Cougars place three on All-C-USA football first team

With no bowl game on the horizon, the only consolation prize left for the 2010 Houston Cougars football team is individual honors.

Three UH players &mash; receiver Patrick Edwards, running back Bryce Beall and guard Chris Thompson — made the All-Conference USA first team as unveiled by the league on Tuesday. Edwards also made the C-USA second team as a kick returner, joined by UH linebacker Marcus McGraw and guard Isaiah Thompson. Linebacker Sammy Brown and receiver James Cleveland were honorable mention selections.

The good news for the Cougars and their immediate future is that their only All-C-USA honoree on the first and second teams who doesn’t have any more eligibility is Isaiah Thompson. The bad news for the Cougars and their immediate future is that placed only one player, linebacker Efrem Oliphant of Langham Creek High, on the C-USA All Freshman Team.

The league-champion UCF Knights and the Western Division-winning SMU Mustangs had eight All-C-USA selections apiece, with both schools placing five players on the first team. UCF also tied Tulsa and Southern Miss for the league lead with five players on the All-Freshman Team.

Edwards, a junior from Hearne, caught 71 passes for 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns for a UH team that lost its final four games to finish 5-7. He ranks second in the league in receiving yards per game (91.7) and fourth in catches per game (5.9) and second in punt returns (15.4) heading into the bowl season. One of his punt returns was a 74-yarder for a touchdown at Memphis, giving him a league-high 14 touchdowns.

Beall, a junior from Tatum who was the 2008 Freshman of the Year, carried 163 times for 870 yards (5.3 average) and 12 touchdowns. He is fourth in the league in rushing yards per game (72.5) and tied for fourth in touchdowns.

Chris Thompson, a junior from Hitchcock, has started every game the past two seasons and 37 of a possible 39 since the start of 2008. He made the All-Freshman team in 2008 and was an honorable mention pick in 2009. The Cougars are third in the league in scoring (37.7 points per game) and second in yardage (480.5).

McGraw, a junior from Arlington, has started 39 consecutive games and has three consecutive seasons of 100 or more tackles. He had 110 tackles and two sacks this season, ranking seven in the league in stops per game (9.2). He made the All-Freshman Team in 2008 and was a second-team selection in 2009.

Isaiah Thompson, a fifth-year senior from Tatum, spent most of his first four years on campus as a defensive tackle. A starter at defensive tackle in 24 games from 2008-2009, Thompson established himself as an offensive lineman during spring practice. He started the first 10 games of 2010 at left guard, missing the final two because of an ankle injury.

Oliphant spent the first nine games as the backup to senior Matt Nicholson, who went down with a knee injury in the first half of a Nov. 5 game against UCF. Though Oliphant had only three starts, he finished fifth on the team with 66 tackles. In his three starts, Oliphant had 34 tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Cleveland, a senior from Baytown, made the 2009 first team and was Newcomer of the Year with 104 catches for 1,214 yards and 14 touchdowns. He fell off to 57 catches for 800 yards and six touchdowns, twice missing games for disciplinary reasons.

Brown, a junior transfer from Wiggins, Miss., was third on the team with 80 tackles. He had 20 tackles for losses, tying for seventh-most in the nation, and had 7.5 sacks.

Forward Kendrick Washington was his usual forceful presence around the basket, contributing 17 points and six rebounds off the bench. Maurice McNeil (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Adam Brown (10 points, 10 rebounds) over-came sub-par shooting performances to contribute double-doubles. McNeil shot 5-for-14, Brown 2-for-11. The Cougars didn’t make a free throw until nearly 28 minutes into the game and were 6-for-16 from the line overall. UH also got pushed around on the boards 53-35 by a 1-7 Nevada team.

Key stat No. 1 in the Cougars’ favor: They committed only nine turnovers, or half their season’s average.

Key stat No. 2 in the Cougars’ favor: They had a 40-18 landslide in points in the paint.

Key stat No. 3 in the Cougars’ favor: They limited the Wolf Pack to 34-percent shooting (22-for-64) while forcing 17 turnovers. Zamal Nixon had five steals, including three during an 8-0 run at the start of the second half that put UH ahead for good.

The Cougars are 5-0 at home. Up next: The UTSA Roadrunners, who are 5-2 and coming off an 86-81 victory at Pepperdine, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hofheinz.

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The UH women’s team will try to improve on its 5-1 record when it takes on UTSA at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hofheinz.

UTSA is 3-4 and coming off an 83-43 defeat at Texas Tech.

Brittney Scott leads the Cougars with a 17.3-point scoring average. She shook out of a shooting malaise Sunday with a career-high 29 points in a 72-62 victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Point guard Porsche Landry is averaging 17.0 points and 4.3 assists. Courtney Taylor the reigning Conference USA Player of the Year, is averaging 16.7 points (on 52-percent shooting), 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals. Lesslee Mason averages nearly a double-double for UH (9.7 points, 9.2 rebounds).

Though the Cougars are shooting only 39 percent as a team, they have an average scoring margin of plus-11.0. They’re limiting opponents to 38-percent shooting while forcing 21.2 turnovers per game.

What were Michael Hayes numbers? Figured he would at least get second team distinctions.

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Hayes is a good player and had a good season, but his numbers (150 carries, 629 yards, 4.2 average, 8 TDs) don’t really build a case for him. He was 11th in the conference in rushing. The 10 C-USA players ahead of Hayes all had better averages per carry. SC

Sobering indeed. We can only hope that the frosh redshirted can contribute. In fairness to Piland, it’s more difficult for a newcomer to run our offense than one more run-oriented (although Kolb didn’t seem to mind). I don’t know if that’s an excuse or a criticism of the play calling this year, though.

I’m watching the Lady Coogs and they look great when they’re hitting their open shots and not forcing up bad ones. A few of their guards got out of control for spurts, which kept the game closer than it should have been. The potential is there, though, if they can be a little more consistent.

It is great to see our guys get recognition. Mr. I. Thompson will be sorely missed. I don’t know what “all freshmen” teams even mean- except maybe the teams involved couldn’t recruit better upperclassmen or the upperclassmen could not be developed into D-1 football players. Personally, I don’t want UH to NEED or WANT to play freshmen.

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Virtually every team has freshmen contributing. And as I mentioned in the blog, UCF managed to win the league while incorporating five freshmen as significant contributors. Southern Miss and Tulsa — two teams that beat UH and had better records &dmash; had a significant freshman influence. If the All-Freshman team were populated with a bunch of players from Memphis, Tulane, UAB, etc., it’d be a different story. SC

Carrier isn’t first team kickoff returner? Maybe they don’t have that category. How about Case for 1st team injured reserve?

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Carrier was eighth in the league in kickoff-return average (23.5) and ran back one for a touchdown. UCF’s Quincy McDuffie ran back two kicks for scores and had a 32.7 return average. UTEP’s Marlon McClure ran back two kicks for scores and had a 29.8 average. So Carrier doesn’t really have a case in 2010. SC

Thanks for the update. Noticed on the tube that Nixon almost took you out on one hustle play. Did you try to draw the charge?

After watching the game, I am still surprised to see some sloppy guard play — bad fast breaks, ill-advised passes, etc. I am beginning to worry that this will continue into C-USA play.

However, I like the way they are feeding McNeil and Washington. I would like to see Brown get more looks earlier in the game.

And shout out to Turnaround Tom (still have the towel) for keeping a high profile on the sidelines. You do not see many coaches that got “retired” from their employer still come out to support the team.

Steve, What’s with the voters for the All-Freshman team? Surely, they must be blind to miss the future All-American that you’ve been touting Piland to be? Our last 2 Freshman QBs have won that recognition!!!! (& I know you haven’t been following us that far back)

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The last time a time starting a true freshman QB won a conference title was 2004. So Jeff Godfrey was a perfectly logical for the C-USA All-Freshman Team. He played well for the team that was clearly the best in the league and is deserving. SC

Greetings Steve – Thank you for the the good basketball articles. The basketball team is slowly but surely improving with a few areas needing extra attention (free throws and turnovers). I’m looking forward to following them.

Is Joseph Young able to practice with the team this season though he’s ineligible to play? From what I’ve heard he’s a great pure shooter but it would be nice if he’s able to start learning the team aspects Coach Dickey preaches. Their games are fun to watch.

Regarding the football team; though this season was very disappointing, I’ll be there again next year hoping for better. I was pleased to hear Rhoades’ view and the stadium fund raising update. I’m optimistic he can pull it together.

Go Coogs!

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Yes, Joseph Young can practice with the team. And if you hang around long enough after games, you’ll see him at Hofheinz shooting. And shooting. And shooting. SC

Great basketball coverage. Thanks. One of the recruiting mantras used by schools such as UT and A&M against UH was that the program (UH) would not prepare a player for the “next level”. It must work because these recruiters have used it over and over when going after a kid UH might have an interest in. (Of course when Penders was coaching at UT you never heard that admission.) I think Dickie’s program will totally let the air out of that old saw.

And once they get this offense down we might actually see points scored off of a fast break or two, just for the fun of it. I saw Eddie Sutton run a fast break once, so I know it can be done.

Finally, maybe now that we have a low post game we’ll be able to recruit the big men that wouldn’t give UH a glance with Pender’s obsession with the perimeter offense. Hey, I can dream. And it probably doesn’t hurt having Elvin Hayes sitting at the table for all our home games. Even though (sadly) many of the kids these days have no knowledge of the Big E I know their fathers do. Plus he’s always wanted to be involved with the program anyway. That was subtle.

Is there any way to get the NCAA to reprimand that coach at Providence who tried to screw over Joseph Young’s career? His behavior was anything but sportsmanlike. Isn’t it pretty unusual for college coaches at this level to take this attitude because the young man changed his mind about where he wanted to play?

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One word: karma. I hope Keno Davis gets what he deserves in terms of karma. SC